The invention relates to a superstructure points device, in particular intended for a grooved rail, comprising a box-like substructure with stock rail, if necessary an additional/supporting rail and slide plate on which a tongue rail is slidably mounted.
A corresponding points device is shown for example in DE 42 01 757 A1, in which the box-like substructure, which comprises a truss plate, is welded onto the stock rail and additional rail, incorporated into a road bed and surrounded with bitumen, for example. Each box-like substructure is rigidly mounted, with the two box-like substructures associated with one points device being settable in respect of their distance from one another by a tie rod, for example.
The problem underlying the present invention is to mount the rails of the points device elastically, while also allowing the option of simple removal from the rail/road bed.
The problem is solved in accordance with the invention substantially in that the box-like substructure comprising at least the stock rail and the slide plate is mounted elastically in a stationarily arranged frame which in turn can be rigidly mounted. In this case, the two frames associated with one points device are also kept a defined distance apart using track rods, for example. In particular, the substructure is supported in suspended form in respect of the frame.
With the teachings in accordance with the invention, the possibility is achieved of elastically mounting the stock rail and slide plate and also in particular the additional/supporting rail in the case of grooved rail points, without the risk of an inadmissible track change; because the box-like substructure is accommodated by a frame that is substantially stiffly mounted, to that extent creating conditions such as those which have to be taken into account in conventional points devices, in particular in grooved rail points.
In an embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the box-like substructure has side walls running parallel or approximately parallel to one another and in the longitudinal direction of the points device and being connected by an elastic intermediate layer to the frame or to a holding element extending therefrom. The result of this is an elastically supported relative movement between the box-like substructure and the frame, and hence the required elastic mounting of stock rail and slide plate, on which in turn a tongue rail is slidably mounted.
The elastic intermediate layer can also be a spring element or spring assembly.
The elastic intermediate layer, which can consist of an elastomer for example whose characteristic can be designed such that the spring stiffness in the vertical direction differs from that in the horizontal direction, should be connected, for example by vulcanization, to a block-like flat element such as a flat bar element on the substructure side and to a preferably L-shaped element on the frame side. The flat element and the L-shaped element can extend on the one side from the box-like substructure and on the other side from the frame or from the holding elements connected thereto. Alternatively, the flat element, L-shaped element and the elastic intermediate layer can be designed as a unit and as such be arranged, practically as an insert, between the frame and the substructure in a positive connection.
The transverse web of the L-shaped element connected to the elastic intermediate layer runs at a distance from both the intermediate layer and the flat element such as flat bar element, and engages in a recess such as a groove in the side wall of the box-like substructure, with the height of the groove being greater than the corresponding extent of the transverse web of the L-shaped element. The groove therefore exerts the function of limitation for any relative movement between the box-like substructure and the frame in the vertical direction.
The transverse web of the L-shaped element itself extends in particular from a bracket-like projection of the frame or is supported on it. In a particularly noteworthy embodiment of the invention, the L-shaped element itself extends from a T-shaped element engaging in the bracket-like projection or is gripped by the latter. The central web of the T-shaped element has on the bottom side hook-like sections that engage in appropriate recesses of the bracket-like projection. This results in the possibility of removing the box-like substructure as well as the T-shaped elements connected by the elastic intermediate layers as a single unit from the frame, or to insert them into the frame such that interchangeability and maintenance is possible with little design and assembly work.
It is furthermore provided that the hook-like sections engage in the corresponding recesses of the bracket-like projection with play sufficient to allow a relative movement in the transverse direction of the points device, with the result that a required track adjustment is possible with fixed-location frames. To do so, it is additionally provided that spacer elements such as shim plates are arrangeable between longitudinal webs of the T-shaped element and longitudinal inner side walls of the frame for the purpose of aligning the box-like substructure relative to the frame.
The block-like flat element such as flat bar element that is connected to or in contact with the box-like substructure, i.e. the outer surface of the side wall, is preferably covered at the top by a lateral and outward-projecting section such as a nose on the side wall of the box-like substructure, or the projection rests on the flat element for support of the box-like substructure. Here the projecting section such as the nose is aligned in particular flush with the transverse web of the T-shaped element, however at a distance from it, with a section of the elastic intermediate layer extending between the transverse web and the projecting section.
With the transverse web section at a distance from the substructure, the T-shaped element itself rests on the appropriate side wall of the frame, which in turn has a U-shaped geometry.
The flat element, intermediate layer and L-shaped element can also be replaced by an elastic insert fixed between the bracket-like projection and the transverse web of the L-shaped element or a corresponding projection of the frame and the outward-facing projection such as the nose.
In order to follow the required curvatures of the points device without having to depart from the design in accordance with the invention, it is furthermore provided in a noteworthy embodiment that in the longitudinal direction of the points device the L-shaped element and the block-like flat element comprise sections at a distance from one another, between which the elastic intermediate layer passes over the entire length. Here the elastic intermediate layer between the sections of the L-shaped element and the flat element at a distance from one another has a transverse extent which is in particular equal to the sum of the transverse extents of the longitudinal web of the L-shaped element, the block-like flat element and the intermediate layer section passing between them.